Local News

Draft assessment report highlights myriad issues

Draft of report brings mixed reviews from businesses

STERLING -- Between progress with the Master Plan update and the recently accepted 2013 city budget, the Sterling City Council has taken two very recent -- and very preemptive -- steps toward future city improvements.

And at the next Sterling City Council meeting Nov. 13, talk of a new downtown assessment report might lift the council's leg for a third step.

The council received a draft of the Downtown Colorado, Inc. (DCI) Community Assessment report about two weeks ago outlining some of the aspects and issues of Sterling's downtown, as well as how best to address them.

Mayor Heather Brungardt cautioned that the report wasn't finalized and that the council will discuss changes to the draft of the report at the next meeting.

The recommendations fell into five categories: community participation, historic preservation, promotions, economic development and design.

But some points appeared in multiple areas, including the executive summary. For example, the report pushed the need for a full or part time position dedicated to improving the downtown district through resource gathering, community organizing or other means.

Kiolbasa argued that approach wouldn't be easy, though, as the city would have to answer a lot of questions concerning the dynamics of the position.

"(The job) is much larger than one person," he said.

Advertisement

"And who would be in charge of that position? Would it be a city or a county employee, or part of the historic district? How do we fund it?"

Mayor Pro Tem Patrick Lawson said the position would work well for organizing volunteers, especially from the high schools or Northeastern Junior College. But he said that position would take longer to create regardless, especially since the city has already approved its 2013 budget.

"The problem is more about finding someone with enough drive to get a certain project done," he said. "I don't know for sure how quickly something like that would get going. They've been talking since I've been on council about getting a director or coordinator. It hasn't happened yet."

He and Kiolbasa agreed that the first plan should be to set out goals clarifying which recommendations the city wants to implement and in what order. Before 2012, Kiolbasa said the council set a list of priorities for what they wanted to accomplish during the year and that he wanted to see that again.

One of his biggest concerns, echoed in the report, is that the council might take the recommendations and never do anything with them.

Community participation

The report adds "there seems to be a desire to select tools before outlining purpose or objectives," and that a "true identity" needs to be found.

The recommendations state that the city must make the downtown a priority, collaborate with key groups (Logan County Chamber of Commerce and the Sterling Urban Renewal Authority, for example) and select priorities.

The council should then, it says, create a "city resolution" encouraging growth in downtown, hire a staff person and consider an NJC marketing internship program coupled with outside scholarships.

But at least one of the suggestions is potentially in the works: creating a special brand for the city. That goal is one of many championed in the Sterling Master Plan update.

Carrie McCool, of the Master Plan's McCool Development, was also one of the eight members of the assessment team, which Lawson said was an asset. She can take the information gathered from the assessment and use it for future Master Plan discussions.

The report also observed that traffic patterns (such as the one-way streets) create a difficult flow for customers to visit businesses downtown.

The Journal-Advocate spoke with representatives from eight downtown businesses about the preliminary report from DCI. When asked if traffic patterns disrupt the flow of business, five responders agreed and two disagreed (one wasn't sure).

Chris Delgado of KC's Music and Electronics cautioned that the city needs to fix its one-way streets before it develops the "S-curve" connecting Highway 14 to Highway 6.

"If they don't fix the two-ways first, (the city's) gonna have a revolt," Delgado said. "It's going to kill the downtown totally."

There also needs to be "one-stop" information online that shows opportunities and resources concerning downtown, according to the report. It suggested creating a Downtown Sterling website, which includes information on business-creating incentives, volunteer opportunities and events and planning organizations.

Seven out of eight businesses agreed that people need such a spot for information about downtown.

Historic preservation

The report also discussed a bigger emphasis on historic preservation for downtown -- a cause that's been pursued to some extent since March. Seven businesses out of eight interviewed wanted more of an effort or emphasis on historic preservation downtown. Six of six businesses further said the efforts would have a positive or neutral affect on businesses.

The report argued that the city had no coordinated heritage tourism program for the downtown and that many of the buildings had been left to deteriorate. It added that the city should make an effort to promote the historic aspects of downtown and that it should create a volunteer "paint and repair" program, hold treatment workshops and promote energy efficiency.

Promotions

Moving back to the idea of a website, the report also suggests the creation of an online newsletter, Downtown Sterling Facebook page and a Twitter account.

But a bigger focus looked at the downtown's promotion to local residents. Businesses were mixed on how the area was marketed to residents. Only one of eight responders agreed that there were sufficient incentives or attractions for local residents to use downtown businesses, while four of seven responders said there was sufficient promotion of the area. Both were areas the report suggested addressing.

The report suggested promoting and strengthening "shop local" campaigns, as well as working with the school district and service organizations to fund a scholarship for students who demonstrate a commitment to downtown.

Still, most of the businesses questioned said most of the responsibility of promoting downtown businesses fell on the businesses themselves.

Economic (restructuring) development

Sterling should craft incentive policies and improvement grants to help its businesses, according to the report. It says that existing policies and regulations do not consistently encourage investment and reinvestment, creating barriers to investment in some opportunities.

Businesses were torn on this issue, although views were generally negative. At least four of the eight businesses said they weren't sure if the policies had any effect or mixed effects on investment downtown.

One thing businesses did agree on was the lack of diversity in downtown businesses, with six of eight saying they didn't think there was a wide enough range. The report recommended identifying a catalyst for redevelopment and communications with property owners and getting school districts to establish community service hours to be earned downtown. They argue retailers would respond to the greater exposure by the student population with new and different stores.

There are also very few residential units downtown, according to the report. Kiolbasa said the housing issue is something that needs to be pursued, since it would get people downtown after hours and create additional interest and requests.

But businesses were less sure. Only four of seven businesses wanted improved housing downtown, although five of eight said there weren't sufficient options for housing.

Kiolbasa thought some of the policies involved in downtown housing, such as the commercial property tax rate, make it difficult to find people who can rent downtown.

Another issue -- parking -- makes residential development difficult because its difficult to grant parking spaces to renters that take up spots for downtown customers. The report suggests re-evaluating the parking requirements for downtown, saying there's at least a perception that parking can be inconvenient at times.

However, five of eight businesses believed there was enough parking downtown for both residents and businesses.

Design

Downtown businesses and the report's observations were also at odds when it came to the consistency of downtown's design. The report said there were good examples of streetscape improvements (new benches and flower baskets), but "they were neither cohesive nor continued consistently" throughout downtown. Still, five of the eight businesses said they believe the overall design of downtown was consistent.

They also disagreed on the issue with shade trees. The report says the sidewalks downtown need more shade trees and that pedestrians got too hot during the summer months.

Only two businesses said the city needed more shade trees, but five of them said they would like to see a different kind of shade tree. The trees downtown right now, they said, shed too many leaves too soon.

But the report and the businesses agreed that future improvements should include a bike network, with the report recommending the development of a bike and walking trails map to encourage connectivity from downtown to the rest of the city.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.